Locomotive ash pan



C. T. WESTLAKE.

LOCOMOTIVE ASH PAN. APPLICATION FILED NOV- 11, 1919.

1,410,978. Patented Mar.28 ,1922.

' C/ZarZafi T 14/653545? v r Nr m 1m.

. CHARLEST. WEST LAKE, OFST. LOUIS, MISSOURL'ASSIGNOIB/TO GAST STEEL LOCO mMOTIV'E ASH PAN-COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS; MISSQUBI', A-' CQRIPORATION OF DELAWARE. i v r 'iailogeae.

To altioho'vizit may 00mm.- p Be "t knownthat I, CHARLES T. WEST- LAKE; acitizenof the United statesyresiding.

at'St'. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Loco motiveAsh Fans, of which the following is a full-,clear; and exact description, such as Will"enable others skilled inth e art to which itapperta'ins to make and use the same,lref-' erence beinghad to the accompanying drawe in 's, forming part of this specification;

lVly invention relates generally to theash pans of locomotives; and more particularly to gravity door thatcontrols the outlet opening in the low hopper.

', One of the principal diificulties vencountered' in the operation and successful use oflocomotive ash pans arises tromthe leakage o'f air through crevices in thejoints between the ash pan door and the'edges' of the door opening in the hopper. "Ashes and ci'nders droppinginto the ash pan from the locomotive the box contain considerable unto a. minimum, if not entirely eliminating,

consumed fuel, some of which is under com bustioin and when this burning-fuel lodges in the lower portion of the ash pan or'the hopper, it is acted upon by the currents of air-"which leak through the; small openings at various'points around'the door, and as a result, rapidvlgorous combustion is produced-Q "As r'esultofthiscombustion and the heat produced thereby; theash pan and" hopper,.-are very frequently damaged to'- a considerable extent due to burning," warp ing and" distortion. desirablethat' the joints between the door and'thea sh pan hopper'be formed and maintained as nearly'air tight as possible and ll isthe principal Ob ect'of my nvent on to'provide a relatively simple construction whereby agravlty door'ls utillzed for closing: the ontlet opening. in the lower portion oi the ash pan hopper: and to formthe edgesof the hopper around the opening and the edges of the door sosthat they will cooperate in maintaining practically air tight joints while the door is closed, thereby reducing the inlet of air through the said cooperating edges.

The cooperating parts or" engaging. surfacesiofi the hopper and door are subjected to morea or less wear dueto the opening and joints between er portion of the ash pan Qbviously it' is i highly LoooMor vE Asia ran.

entering air jets will immediately be started,

' p d nn fi i l snt. Patented Mar. 28, 1 922. Applicationifileii November 11, 1919. jseriain fssziss,

and it is one of the objects' of'my' invention to provide a relativelyvsimple construction that Will automatically take up any Wear thatmay occur between the parts and thus cau'se 'them; to remain practically airtight.

l/Vith the foregoingfand other objects in View, my invention consists certain novel features of construction and arrangement or" parts,jhereinafte r"more fully described and claimed; and illustrated the accompanymg drawings, in Which-'- I i a Figure 1 is an elevationalyview of an ash pan of my improved construction;

- Figure 2 is an end-elevational view of the ash pan. 9

Figure 3' is an enlarged detail section taken approximately on the line 3 3 of we l gure 1.

l igure' 4 isa plan view of the gravity door utilized in connection with my improved ash pan.

Referring by numerals-to the accompany ingdraw-ings which illustrate a practical embodiment of my invention, 10 designates the main body portion of aloc'omotive ashpan which maybe of standard construction' and which is positioned inthe usualinanner be neatli the locomotive fire box.' 'Depending from the ash pan is a hopper 11 preferably of'cast metal, and provided with a palr' of inclined bottom plates or walls 12 and 13 and preferably with a horizontal bottom:

plate 14:. The lower edge of the bottom plate 12 terminates a short distance from the end 'ofplate 14, thereby formingan ash discharge opening and formed bn the'undel side of the lower edge of the inclined plate 12'and extending from one side wall of the hopperto the other is a depending flange or lip1 5. The endlG of plate let is inclined and offset slightly with respect to the main body portion of said plate, thereby forming on the inner faceof said plate lanear its lower'edge a shoulder 17. 1 i

The lower p'ortionsof the side walls" 11 at the sides of the discharge opening and at the sides'ot the' iower portion of'inclined bottom plate 12 are extended outwardly and thence downwardly to provide flangeslS which are-ofl set with respect totheimniediately adjacent portions of the side Walls of the hopper,- and projecting inwardly the lower, edges of these 'ofiset' portions are 7 flanges 19, the inner faces of \vhich"termi nate in the same vertical planes with the inner faces of the sidewalls o'f the hop-per. Such construction provides grooves or channels between the lips or fianges 19 and the lower edges of the main body portions of the sidewalls of the" hopper which grooves or channels extend from points immediately beneath the shoulder 17 upwardlybe neath the depending flange or 1ip15 and upwardlyto the/upper endsof the flangeslS.

The gravity, door which normally, closes the"di scharge opening consists of a substantially rectangular/plate '21,. preferably of 'castinetal, its side edges being arranged for sliding mo em t in thegrooves or chap:-

nels 20,fand j formedintegral with the upper edge OfflllllSPlfliiG lS-fl transversely disposed upwardly projecting flange orlip 22which,

- i, when the, door closed, bears directly against or occupiesa positionimmediately a'djacentto \lip or flange lfi on the edge of bottom plate 12.

The lower corners of thedoor are cutaway Q on angles a sfdesi-gnated jby23.50 as to'clear any possible accumulation ofcin-ders inzthe lower ends of the channels or guideways 2O.

; Formec l integral with the upper portion of door 2l are-depending ears 24 in which is loosely mounted a transversely disposed rod 25. Any suitable mechanism may be utilized for imparting opening movement to the door, but, as illustrated,v- I prefer to utilizea mechanism including a link 26 that is, connected. to one end of th'e rod 25 and 1 11. @Links 26 and 27 are preferably dupli-.

connects sai d link to1 the lower end of 'a second link 27, the upper end of the latter being pivotally.connected to a bracket 28 that projects from theside wall, of hopper cated': upon theopposite side of the pan although not .illustrated in thedrawings.

"Pivotally: connected to the lowerends of links 26 and 27'is one end om push rod 29, the opposite end being connected to a suitable operating lever 30.

i Inasmuch as the door through the inclined "grooves or, channels 20, said door will by gravity tendrto move intoposition to close the openingand liketend to retain such.

wise by gravity will position. p

While in closed position-theilower edge of thedoor -fits, snugly beneath the over:

hanging shoulder lT land the upstanding flange 22 on the upper edge of the door. lies immediately beneath the lower edge of ,the inclined bottom 12 and;;behind=the lip or flange 15 thereupon. .Such arrangement together with the side edges of the door fit-v ting snugly within the. grooves or channels 20'form practically air tight joints between all four edges of the door -and:the adjacent T21 is as to. slide portions of -the hopper;.consequently the ingress of air into the hopper around the door is efi'ectually prevented. V

, By virtue of thefactthat thegroovesor "channels :20 are inclined there will be no tendency of ashes or like material tododge -thereinwhile the door is open but if reli'atively fine material should accumulate in 'said--grooves, such material will be forced downwardly through and discharged from "s'aidg'rooves by the downward movementof the door or upon return to closed position. The cut-away corners 23 compensate for any slight accumulationof ashes or thelike in the extreme lower ends'of the grooves for channels 20.

v f 'lo'open theidoor or --move the same upwardly, so asjto' permit the discharge of ashes from the hopper, lever 30 is actuated to shift rod 29 and links 26 and 27 into the positionsshown by dotted. lines in Figure 1, which movement slides the door upwardly through the grooves or. channels 20 and after the ashes havejdischarged through the opening, the.v opening mechanism is released and the doorwill move to full closed is formed the outlet opening for theashes is, arranged at an angle with the horizontal equal to or greater than the angleofrepose of loose or powdered material, about forty degrees (40); and consequently the door, which closes said opening, and which moves in a plane parallelto the plane of the wall 12, cannot carry ashes with it; On the contrary, even thoughsaiddoor be but partially open, the ashes, seeking their angle of repose,- willpass through the opening, and leave-the door and its guidewayscomparativelyf clean and clear of ashes. No power is required to-close the door operating atthis cngle. It is gravitating and self-closing.

I haveishown a'hood or deflector 31, .pref-' erably of cast metal, which; is integral 'with'the hopper or is applied to the hopper around-the openingin the lower end thereof and over the guideways for the door, which" construction is especially advantageous where the hopper is provided with a flushing pipe as the hood positively deflects'the contents of the hopper downward 'when" flushed steam, air or water discharged Over the top surface of the flat bottom of the hopper. v. a

A locomotive ash pan of my improved, constructionyis comparatively simple, is providedwith a door that moves into closed positionand maintains such position by motive ash pan can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of my in vention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A locomotive ash pan comprising an inclined hopper plate having a discharge opening formed therein, a hood surrounding said opening for directing material discharged therefrom, and a. door slidingly arranged for operation between said hood and said hopper plate.

2. A locomotive ash pan having an inclined hopper plate provided with a discharge opening, a guideway on each side of said discharge opening, a hood arranged outside of said guideways to direct material discharged through said opening, and a door slidingly mounted in the guideways between the hood and the hopper plate.

3. A locomotive ash pan having a wall member, a hopper bottom plate terminating wardly opening outlet, a gravity door slidingly mounted on said plate arranged at'an angle approximately the angle of repose of the ashes in the pan and cooperating with an edge of another wall ofsaid pan for closing the opening in the hopper plate,

and a. hood outside said door adapted to direct the flow of material discharged through said outlet.

4. In an ash pan, having aninclinedhopper bottom plate, and a discharge opening.

at the lower end of the plate, laterally extending recesses in said hopper plate adjacent to said opening, a transverse hopper plate at thev ends of said opening and recesses, and a door for said openingreceived and slidingly supported in said recesses and having those corners beveled which,

'when the door is closed, are located at the intersection of said verse plate.

5. In a locomotive ash pan, an inclined hopper bottom plate, a downwardly opening recesses with said transoutlet at the lower end of said plate, a door slidinglymounted on said plate and adapted toclose said outlet, and a hood outside of said door surrounding said outlet and adapted to direct the flow of material discharged through said outlet.

In testimony whereof I'hereunto afiix my signature this 7th day of November, 1919.

- CHARLES T. WESTLAKE.

short of said member to provide a down- 

